TSR Q&A with Gary Gygax

This is the multi-year Q&A sessions held by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax here at EN World, beginning in 2002 and running up until his sad pasing in 2008. Gary's username in the thread below is Col_Pladoh, and his first post in this long thread is Post #39.

 

[haakon1]

I'm not seeing how this supports your "it's just like The Seven Samurai" argument.

It's hard to see that which does not exist.

 

[haakon1]

This leaves us with the "leader that seldom speaks", "each member of the group having a speciality", "defending the village with stakes and such" and "the slow motion battle in the rain of few on foot vs. many mounted".

The first one is a common trope: "stoic warrior". That is older than Seven Samurai and I see no reason to think the influence came from just that one movie. The second is a necessity of making any movie about a group of otherwise similar people, so that the audience can keep track of who is who. That would have been in 13th Warrior whether or not Seven Samurai was ever made, because it has to. The third is just a common sense realization of how to defend a village vs. attackers. Castles have moats, villages have palisades. That idea is far older than movies are, and there is no reason to expect that one movie only got that idea from the other.

The last one is possibly convincing, since you have a lot of separate events coming together. "Rain", "On foot vs. Mounted" and "Slow Motion". So I could imagine that *this one scene* was inspired by a scene in another movie, but that is about it. And many movies do that. A kinder word than "rip off" would be "homage". And, on the other hand, I could also believe in parallel thinking.

Of course, what this REALLY proves is that "13th Warrior" is a total rip-off of "Conan: The Barbarian".

-- At the beginning of Conan, a VILLAGE is attacked IN THE SNOW (OK, the snow is on the ground, not in the air, but it's still very similar to rain in its chemical properties and thematic idea of "there is weather and we're outdoors") by HORSEMEN who fight FOOTMEN with SWORDS!

-- Near the end of Conan, HORSEMEN again attack FOOTMEN. And this time, the FOOTMEN have used spiked wooden STAKES to contain the horsemen. (The difference between the punji-stake-like barriers in Conan and the sharpened logs in 13th Warrior is just to prevent the lawsuits for total plagarism.)

-- Conan is strong and doesn't talk much. Beowulf is strong and talks a fair amount, but not so much in the scene where's been poisoned and is nearly dead. When they do talk, both mention religious themes.

-- Conan is to become "king by his own hand". Beowulf is of royal blood.

-- Both Conan and the Vikings have Germanic-type accents.

So I wouldn't worry about the parallels between 13th Warrior and the Seven Samurai. The Seven Samurai is a total take-off of Lord of the Rings anyhow -- swords, horses, a group of people, it's all there.

 

[haakon1]

Hi Haakon1,

As a general rule I select the magic items to be discovered in a set encounter, use random table determination for all treasure in a random encounter.

On occasion I will have a real magic item for sale, or available as a gift if a PC or PCs do the prescrubed things correctly. ANy item that can be purchased is of very minimal magic--mostly some minor healing or a +1 arrow for example.

Dealers in "magic" in my campaign settings are generally swindlers, and that makes it doubly hard for players when they come across an NPC that is offering something not a fake.

Cheers,
Gary

Gotcha. So, do you usually have the PC's as transients, or do you give them a home base?

Because my PC's have a hometown, I let them have some non-transient, non-shifty contacts. They deal with the same "old guy in a cloak who gives you missions" a lot, in this case an advisor to the ruler of the city.

I like the idea of a home base because it allows me to work on the same NPC's and give the campaign some continuity, plus it seems to me that a Shire to protect and defend makes derry-do adventuring to get rid of the baddies seem more "important". There's difference between saving "the world" when the world is a vague concept, and saving the world when you know and are friends with people outside the party.

 

[Marshal Lucky]

Funny you should mention Conan The Barbarian, since John Milius was huge devotee of Akira Kurosawa (he's the one who introduced George Lucas to Kurosawa's films like The Hidden Fortress, which was a direct influence on Star Wars) and said that the final battle from Conan was a nod to The Seven Samurai, one of Milius' favorite movies.

Agreed, although I found the original Japanese film more entertaining than the American adaptation.

Cheers,
Gary

I always wondered what possessed them to cast Yul Brynner as a cowboy.

Gail was not at all fond of 300 which we (or more properly I) watched last night, and gransdon Mike is watching at this very moment. It is the sort of movie all chicks should enjoy...but do not

Cheerio,
Gary

I haven't seen it, but my SO and the other women I know weren't interested. However, the gay guys at work went nuts over 300. They still talk about it all the time. It's like Showgirls or Baywatch for them.

 

[Tewligan]

Troll Lord Games is publishing the entire seven books in the Gord series in hardback editions, beginning with Saga of Old City being released at GenCon. As I have yet to see and polish the ms. for Artifact of Evil, I can not say when the Trolls will have it available.

Oh, really?! I had no idea they were being republished - I'll have to grab those! When you say you haven't gotten the manuscript for polishing, does that mean that some parts are actually going to be rewritten? I didn't know that there were so many Gord books - I only read the first two, although I did see that the bookstore had a used copy of the third when I picked up SoOC. I didn't get it because I knew I'd be tempted to read it before I found and reread the second. Time for an eBay search, I guess...

Upon reading your first paragraph, I was going to ask if these editions would have any nifty character/monster/magic writeups included in an appendix, but I'm guessing maybe that won't be the case since you didn't mention it when you answered the cataboligne question. Alas. Of course, I suppose Gord can be cobbled together from your original afterword, and some of Catty's powers are easily gleaned from the story. I guess it's too much to hope that the original Clyde Caldwell art is going to be included, hm?

 

[HolyGrenadeFrenzy]

Howdy HGF,

Bonfiglioni is a lor easier to read than Eco, and there is a good deal more excitement in his yarns

Cheerio,

Gary

I love your sense of humor Col_Pladoh! I might not always catch on yet I have been warned by a friend of mine long ago what to watch for with you.

Anyway, if you see "Dragon Lady" (JEB) anytime soon say hi for me! You are closer now than I.

 

[Talath]

Hey Gary;

I dunno if you have been posed this question or not, but what kinds of wines do you enjoy? Do you prefer certain varietals, or certain AOC wines? Red and white is just too simplistic to divide such a wide field.

Myself, I am partial to chardonnay, riesling, and gewurztraminer wines as for my whites, and pinot noir, syrah, merlot, and cabernet franc for my reds. I do also enjoy the american Meritage wines, as well as the Bordeaux blends. I did have a nice Loius Jadot 2005 Beaujolais with some steak tartar and coq au vin recently; a very delicious meal indeed, and a good wine.

I had to turn down a free bottle of meritage due to the rules of compliance in my dorm. Bah, heathens. Let the others savages drink themselves to death with poor quality beer and tasteless spirits: let those who would want it, have their wine.

(Not to say people who prefer beer or spirits are savages, but rather I refer to the crowd who choose to blare music and intoxicate themselves beyond common sense every night at the local bar, rather then pay attention to their academics.)

 

[Particle_Man]

Funny you should mention Conan The Barbarian, since John Milius was huge devotee of Akira Kurosawa (he's the one who introduced George Lucas to Kurosawa's films like The Hidden Fortress, which was a direct influence on Star Wars) and said that the final battle from Conan was a nod to The Seven Samurai, one of Milius' favorite movies.

Cool. Now is there any interview where, similar to John Milius's comments about Conan the Barbarian, people involved with the making of 13th Warrior said that the movie was inspired by Seven Samurai?

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gotcha. So, do you usually have the PC's as transients, or do you give them a home base?

Because my PC's have a hometown, I let them have some non-transient, non-shifty contacts. They deal with the same "old guy in a cloak who gives you missions" a lot, in this case an advisor to the ruler of the city.

I like the idea of a home base because it allows me to work on the same NPC's and give the campaign some continuity, plus it seems to me that a Shire to protect and defend makes derry-do adventuring to get rid of the baddies seem more "important". There's difference between saving "the world" when the world is a vague concept, and saving the world when you know and are friends with people outside the party.

By preference most of the players in my various groups over the years have been basically transient--even the initial large group of characters playing out of the City of Greyhawk. The lot were prone top wander far and wide, and any home base they established was typically an islokated stronghold constructed after many years of game time.

As for plots, never have I had the group concerned with saving the world, although sometimes that have been involved in adventures that have impacted a state or region. Mostly they decide for themselves what their motivation is and how far they will go to fulfill their ambitions.

Whenever I have encouraged political activity, it has been generally rejected in favor of action and adventure. The group play-testing the LA game back c.1997-99 bought a building in a town but soon left there to investigate a demon-haunted ruin. When they completed that partucular adventure--a module that will likley be published next year--they decided to leave the area and go adventuring elsewhere. (They didn't much care about real property of money...

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

...

I haven't seen it, but my SO and the other women I know weren't interested. However, the gay guys at work went nuts over 300. They still talk about it all the time. It's like Showgirls or Baywatch for them.

Surely becasue Xerxes was depicted as being light in his loafers...and all the Spartans were really buff. Otherwise the film was mainly blood and thunder. If you saw Sin City and liked it you will likley love 300

Cheers,
Gary